Another winter storm rolled through the DC area on Wednesday night, cancelling most of our venues for (what is hopefully) the last time this winter. Thanks to a few die hard trivia hosts, as well as couple of out-of-state venues, we managed to bring in 44 loyal teams across six game of Pour House Trivia:

FIRST ROUND:

Wednesday’s opening round was a breeze for most of our teams, as we looked at Harley Davidson motorcycles, Three Clues for the name Jean, and this musical comedy film:

Four teams began their night with a perfect first round score: Kitten Mittens (Quinn’s), Hipster Fashion Consultants (Quinn’s), The Dog Ate Our Team Name (Quinn’s), and Devan is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Furnace).

SECOND ROUND:

Songs about February highlighted Wednesday’s audio question, as our teams were asked to identify the voices of Don McLean (“American Pie”), Foo Fighters (“February Stars”), and Josh Groban (“February Song”). Next, we reminisced about these Public Service Announcements:

We closed the first half with questions concerning the Pony Express and Spring Training baseball. Six teams swept the second round with a perfect score of 36 points.

HALFTIME:

Convenience store brands and world leaders were the featured topics on Wednesday’s halftime page, which yielded ten perfect scores and an overall average of 18.3 points. Here is Wednesday’s leaderboard at the halftime break:

THIRD ROUND:

The most difficult wagering question of the night kicked off Wednesday’s second half. Only 28% of our teams knew that former ESPN college basketball analyst Digger Phelps spent two decades as the head men’s basketball coach at Notre Dame. Next, we discussed the derivation of the word poltergeist and decorated ourselves with henna tattoos. We closed the third stanza with a look at this current cable drama:

Only eight teams tacked on the last two bonus points of the round by knowing that the Showtime series “Homeland” was based on a similar series from Israel (“Prisoners of War”). Four of the eight teams that picked up those bonus points completed a perfect third round: Shakeweight (Beef ‘O’ Brady’s), Kitten Mittens (Quinn’s), Hipster Fashion Consultants (Quinn’s), and The Dog Ate Our Team Name (Quinn’s).

FOURTH ROUND:

With TWO potential perfect games hanging in the balance, none of our Wednesday teams were able to pick up the full six points on the 6-4-2 question by knowing that Rodney King worked as a cab driver before gaining fame with his run-in with the L. A. P. D. Undaunted, our top teams recovered nicely on questions concerning Human Growth Hormone, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and this science fiction novel series:

In what proved to be the most difficult bonus question of the night, only four teams identified melange as the actual name of “the spice” from the “Dune” novel series. As a result, Hipster Fashion Consultants (Quinn’s) posted the only perfect score of Wednesday’s final round. These were your highest scoring teams heading into the final question:

WEDNESDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (28.6% success rate):

–> Name either one of the two African countries which existed as independent nations on the first day of the 20th century.

Just over one-fourth of our teams answered correctly with either Ethiopia or Liberia. Congratulations to the five teams that ran the table on Wednesday’s wagering questions to earn a Perfect 21: Hipster Fashion Consultants (Quinn’s), The Dog Ate Our Team Name (Quinn’s), Kitten Mittens (Quinn’s), Devan is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Furnace), and Unfrozen Caveman Lawyers (Clover Theater). Your final Wednesday leaderboard featured these teams:

With more than a few people expecting to take a snow day on Wednesday, we welcomed a large crowd of 132 teams across 20 venues, one of which was our newest venue partner: Funkstown Tavern!

FIRST ROUND:

It didn’t take long for Tuesday’s game to heat up, as the first bonus question of the night was also its most difficult. After most of our teams correctly named Michael Jordan as the winner of ten NBA scoring titles in the 12 years from 1987 through 1998, only TWO teams earned bonus points by naming these two stars as the only other players to win a scoring title in that stretch:

The opening round also featured questions about Sloppy Joe sandwiches and the world’s three most populous cities with the word “City” in their name (Mexico City, New York City, and Ho Chi Minh City). The two teams that scored bonus points on the basketball question cruised to a perfect first round score: CoMaNa (Cuginis) and Szechuan Chicken (Topgolf).

SECOND ROUND:

The difficult bonus questions continued into Tuesday’s second round. Our audio question featured three songs that all share the title “I Want You Back”, but only eight teams across the board earned bonus points by naming all three groups (The Jackson 5, *NSYNC, and 5 Seconds of Summer). We continued with a look at the Periodic Table, Ancient Roman history, and this competitive TV show:

Throwing another difficult question at the field, only six teams tacked on the last two bonus points of the first half by naming Drew Dreschel as the most successful contestant from the current season of “American Ninja Warrior”.

HALFTIME:

Bootleg movie posters and U.S. Presidents were the featured topics on Tuesday’s halftime page, which yielded nine perfect scores and an overall average of 16.5 points. Here is Tuesday’s halftime leaderboard:

THIRD ROUND:

Third round topics from Tuesday’s game included musical duos, Vidalia onions, and the Netflix documentary series “Conversations with a Killer”. We closed with everyone’s favorite category: African Geography! Our teams performed surprisingly well here, as 32% of the field named both Nigeria and Ethiopia as the two most populous countries on the continent. As a result, the third round proved to be the easiest of Tuesday’s four rounds, as eight teams posted a perfect score of 36 points.

FOURTH ROUND:

Despite a slew of incredibly difficult first half bonus questions, our teams faced few speed bumps in terms of wagering questions. That changed with this query in the final round:

–> Which author won the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction for his book “Armies of the Night”, nearly a decade before winning the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his work “The Executioner’s Song”?

Only 19% of the field responded correctly with Norman Mailer. Next, we kept things in the 1970s with a question concerning this disaster film:

After closing with a Three Clues question concerning the word Colonel, we saw just two teams run the table in the final round: Wiseacres (Champion Billiards) and Fan Club (Senor Tequila’s). Here is Tuesday’s overall leaderboard heading into the final question:

TUESDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (65.2% success rate):

–> Constructed in 1923, which landmark is situated on Mount Lee in the Santa Monica Mountains?

Nearly two-thirds of our teams responded correctly with the Hollywood sign. Congratulations to the four teams that earned the Perfect 21 on Tuesday by answering all wagering questions correctly: Tom Brady is Overrated (Cuginis), How Did I Get Here? (Senor Tequila’s), Gouda ‘Nuff For Me (Cheesetique), and Balls Out (Quincy’s South). These were your highest scoring teams at the close of Tuesday’s game:

Across ten venues, exactly 100 teams took in a holiday game of Pour House Trivia on this President’s Day:

FIRST ROUND:

Monday’s game began quite smoothly, with most teams picking up maximum points on topics such as Mount Vesuvius, the sunflower, and the origin of this automotive brand logo:

Dozens of teams were on their way to a perfect first round score when this question deflated those hopes:

–> With both winning in the last decade, name either one of the two people that have won acting Oscars for films directed by Steven Spielberg.

About half of our teams earned wagering points by remembering that Daniel Day-Lewis picked up his most recent Oscar for the film “Lincoln”. Not surprisingly, only four teams tacked on two bonus points with the obscure bonus answer of Mark Rylance, who won an Oscar for his work in “Bridge of Spies”. Three of the four teams earning those two points completed a perfect opening round: Worst Case Ontario (DRP), Cher’s Zombie Army (Uno Pizzeria), and Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique).

SECOND ROUND:

Monday’s audio question featured songs whose lyrics contain the names of celebrities. Next, we combined sports and math in a question about Grand Slam tennis tournaments, before looking at this infraclass of animals:

The first half closed with a question regarding an early episode of “The Simpsons”, during which “Dancin’ Homer” briefly takes over for the Capitol City Goofball. Four teams earned a perfect second round score: Worst Case Ontario (DRP), That’s So Clavin (Greene Turtle), Great Heathen Army (Morgan Inn), and Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique).

HALFTIME:

Historical TV shows and famous American golf courses were the two topics featured on Monday’s halftime page. Falling a bit on the easier side, this page yielded perfect scores to 22% of our teams, while the overall average reached 17.3 points. Here is your halftime leaderboard from Tuesday night:

THIRD ROUND:

Monday’s second half began with a three-part question regarding baseball curses, followed by a look at the short story “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge” (better known as “Little Red Riding Hood”), and these Nobel Prize winners:

We closed the third round with the most difficult wagering question of the night, as only 18% of our teams knew that architect Frank Gehry has designed such buildings as the Louis Vitton Foundation in Paris, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain. Six teams ran the table in the third round by posting a perfect score of 36 points.

FOURTH ROUND:

A pair of extremely difficult bonus questions highlighted the final round on Monday night. The round opened with a question regarding actress Glenn Close, but only five teams knew that she earned her first Oscar nomination for the film “The World According to Garp”. Later, on a question concerning Asian geography, only eight teams tacked on two bonus points by knowing that Kyushu is Japan’s third largest island by area. Our teams recovered nicely on a question about this classic TV sitcom:

Two teams managed to pick up bonus points on each of the first two bonus questions, which led to a perfect final round score: Dave Martinez School of Management (Hershey’s) and Peele and Eat (DRP). Here are your overall leaders heading into Monday’s final question:

MONDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (37.2% success rate):

–> Among the nine U.S. Presidents who are sporting a mustache (without a full beard) in their official presidential images, who is the only Democrat?

Just over one-third of our teams answered correctly with Grover Cleveland. Congratulations to the five teams that earned the Perfect 21 on Monday night by answering every wagering question correctly: Worst Case Ontario (DRP), Unsavories (DRP), Killer Snails (Hershey’s), Dave Martinez School of Management (Hershey’s), and Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique). These were your highest scoring teams at the close of Monday’s game:

Among all 70 PHT venues, our two busiest games (Springfield Manor Winery and Vanish Brewery) are BOTH played on Friday night! With each of those venues welcoming more than 20 teams last weekend, we hosted a whopping 74 teams across all five weekend games:

FIRST ROUND:

Our Saturday teams were tested right out of the gate with the nightly Three Clues question:

CLUE 1: This word appears in the title of a short story written by John Cheever which was adapted into a film starring Burt Lancaster.

CLUE 2: Otitis externa is a painful condition commonly named for this type of athlete.

Apparently, there were no doctors in the house, as very few teams even ventured an attempt at the two-point bonus. Though no bonus points were doled out, most of the field earned wagering points with the correct answer of ‘swimmer’. Other first round topics included the geography of Massachusetts, the Vatican’s Swiss Guard, the layout of a Monopoly board, and this TV show:

SECOND ROUND:

A wicked bonus question opened Friday’s second round. After about half of our teams recognized the theme song to the classic TV show “The Dating Game”, NONE of our 52 Friday teams knew the name of the show’s original host: Jim Lange. Later, those teams were asked about the derivation of the jersey number worn by this ageless hockey star:

“Czech” your history books to learn about the Prague Spring. Meanwhile, our Saturday teams dealt with a second round stumper of their own. We asked the field to name any two of the three films for which Glenn Close has been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar (apart from her current nomination for “The Wife”). Only 30% of our Saturday teams gave us any two of these films: “Fatal Attraction”, “Dangerous Liaisons”, and “Albert Nobbs”, but none of those teams earned bonus points with all three correct answers. Other second round topics included the Darwin Awards, U.S. state fish, and POGs. Needless to say, none of our weekend teams recorded a perfect second round.

HALFTIME:

With President’s Day weekend upon us, both of our halftime pages dealt with Commanders-in-Chief. Our Friday teams looked at real-life U.S. Presidents, while our Saturday teams were quizzed on fictional U.S. Presidents. Overall, the average score reached 15.2 points, with all five of our perfect scores coming on Friday. Here is your weekend leaderboard at the halftime break:

THIRD ROUND:

A Triple 50/50 question highlighted each of our third rounds last weekend: the Friday teams dealt with films based on books, while the Saturday squads were forced to remember which states border Nebraska. Other third round topics included NBA star Tim Duncan, the Universal Life Church, and the 20th anniversary of this cult comedy film:

With most of the bonus questions landing at about a 20% success rate, none of our weekend teams ran the table in the third round.

FRIDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (12.5% success rate):

–> While the front side of the Nobel Prizes depicts Alfred Nobel, various designs are used for the reverse side, depending on the category. For your wager, name the TWO Nobel categories that share the SAME image on the reverse side.

SATURDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (44.4% success rate):

–> Founded in 1851, which private university was named for an organized territory of the U.S. that existed from 1787 and 1803?

Only five teams gave us Chemistry and Physics as the correct response to Friday’s final question, while nearly half of our Saturday teams knew that we were looking for Northwestern University. Congratulations to Uncle Jack (Belles’), who was the only team to post the Perfect 21 last weekend. here is your final weekend leaderboard:

Valentine’s Day brought out couples and singles alike, as 117 teams took in a game of Pour House Trivia at one of 15 venues:

FIRST ROUND:

Opening round topics from Thursday night included the TV drama “ER”, Russian history, and the work of this larger-than-life singer:

We closed the first round with a three-part question about famous people with the last name of Blair: author Eric Blair (also known as George Orwell), actress Selma Blair, and Olympic speed skater Bonnie Blair. As a result of all three bonus questions yielding about a 20% success rate, only six teams earned a perfect first round score.

SECOND ROUND:

We made a 180-degree turn from Valentine’s Day during Thursday’s audio question, choosing instead to play clips from films about splitting up. Most of our teams had no problem identifying “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, “The Break-Up”, and “Kramer vs. Kramer”. After a question concerning the U.S. Air Force Academy, we asked about the NHL’s Vezina Trophy, offering two bonus points to any team that could name this goalie as its most recent recipient:

Only nine teams tacked on two bonus points by naming Finnish goaltender Pekka Rinne. After closing the round with a shot of Bacardi, we saw four teams run the table with 36 second round points, three of which were playing at the same venue: Periodic Table Dancers (Quincy’s), Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market), Thin White Dukes (Fish Market), and Wingardium Triviosa (Fish Market). Apparently all of the hockey fans were hanging out in Alexandria last night!

HALFTIME:

The top half of Thursday’s halftime page depicted films whose titles contain the word “HEART”, while the bottom half asked the field to match lovers from history and mythology. Six teams notched a perfect score of 20 points, while the overall average landed at 15.3 points. Here are your highest scoring first half teams from Thursday night:

THIRD ROUND:

We opened Thursday’s second half with a three-part question regarding U.S. border cities, followed by a question regarding a unique athletic achievement:

–> Announcing his retirement from the NFL last week, who is the only person to play in the NCAA Division I Basketball Final Four before going on to play in a Super Bowl?

Before playing in the big game with the Carolina Panthers, defensive end Julius Peppers was also a standout basketball player at the University of North Carolina. Next, we looked at some of the acting accolades which have been bestowed upon this versatile performer:

After an in-depth look at the lyrics of Tim McGraw, we saw just two teams earn a perfect third round score: Rum Ham (Smoketown) and Washington Foreskins (Loudoun Kitchen).

FOURTH ROUND:

The fourth round began with a divisive question on the topic of 1980s films:

–> Which 1985 film starring John Cusack tells the story of high school student Lane Myer, who becomes suicidal after his girlfriend breaks up with him shortly before Christmas?

We would have bet two dollars that several teams would guess “Say Anything”, but that iconic scene with Lloyd Dobler holding the boom box over his head would not hit theaters for another four years. Instead, we were looking for the comedy film “Better Off Dead”. Not surprisingly, about half of our teams missed this question, but nearly half of those incorrect responses were accompanied by a nine-point wager! With many teams still in shock, the second half of this one-two punch asked about the (apparently rather obscure) computer game of Hearthstone. Who would have thought that Impressionist art would rescue our teams? Such was the case on Thursday, as most of the field knew that Claude Monet created an entire genre of art after painting this piece:

Even after closing with a relatively easier Three Clues question about the word “Love”, the final round did not yield and perfect scores. These were your highest scoring teams heading into Thursday’s final question:

THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (32.1% success rate):

–> Awarded to the athlete who is judged to have “sizably re-emerged”, the MLB’s Comeback Player of the Year Award was developed in 2005 as part of a sponsorship agreement with this brand name product. For your wager, name this product associated with other “sizable re-emergings”?